Mens Health USA – September-October 2025

Summary

Austin Butler stares down the September/October 2025 cover of Men's Health USA with a confession: "I actually, genuinely thought I may have been dying." Inside, the Elvis actor opens up about pace, pressure and life after the role that nearly broke him, while the NFL Muscle 2025 package profiles Amon-Ra St. Brown and names the league's strongest team. The MAHAconomy special report asks whether wellness is being sold as a political identity.

Lauren Larson's "Austin Butler Is All In" (p.52) tracks the actor from Elvis through Dune 2 and beyond, with Butler detailing the exact shoulder rehab protocol he used after a stunt injury. Christopher Kelly, Marty Munson, Julie Stewart and Andrew Zaleski co-author "Brand New Beat" (p.68), a heart-performance guide organised by decade. Peter Flax profiles the Choctaw Nation stickball athletes (p.76), and Ryan D'Agostino sits with Marc Maron (p.80), who has interviewed 1,600+ people on WTF and still shows up curious. Rina Raphael's "Welcome to the MAHAconomy" (p.46) investigates beef-tallow sunscreen, continuous glucose monitors and the companies cashing in on the wellness-culture war. Regulars include the 2025 MH Group Fitness Awards (p.11), a fasting-mimicking diet reality check (p.25), and "doom food" as a cultural trend (p.27).

Content Guide

▸ Cover Story / Features

p.52 · Austin Butler Is All In
Larson catches Butler between film sets, still processing the physical toll of playing Elvis. He reveals the rotator-cuff exercises he still does daily, two years after that shoot wrapped. Readers who have ever pushed through an injury get a permission slip to slow down, backed by Butlers own PTs protocol.

p.46 · Welcome to the MAHAconomy
Raphael dissects the $50-billion wellness market that has co-opted political rhetoric. She prices a full MAHA-aligned pantry against a conventional one and finds a 37% premium. The checklist on page 48 helps readers distinguish evidence-based buys from culture-war packaging.

p.68 · Brand New Beat
A collaborative guide to heart health that actually respects different ages: a 30-year-old's prevention plan looks nothing like a 55-year-old's. The single metric everyone should know — and can measure without a doctor — is resting heart rate recovery post-exercise.

p.76 · The Stickball Squad
Flax visits the Choctaw Nation to document stickball, Americas oldest sport, and the athletes who keep it alive. The conditioning drills on page 78 — lunges with a medicine ball, bear crawls, partner pulls — build the same lateral power required in any field sport.

p.80 · The Listener: Marc Maron
D'Agostino explores how Maron has sustained a conversation with himself and 1,600 guests for 15 years. Maron's note-taking habit — one sentence per guest immediately after the mic cuts — is a practical creativity lesson for anyone doing consistent content work.

▸ Body / Training / Nutrition

p.11 · 2025 MH Group Fitness Awards
Testers evaluated 12 class formats including Hyrox, F45, CrossFit and indoor rowing studios. The winner in the "best value" category costs $99/month and had the lowest injury-report rate among respondents.

p.14 · Unlock Athletic Strength With Two Dumbbells and a Bench
A science-backed plan from a CSCS that uses only a flat bench and adjustable dumbbells. Session one takes 32 minutes and hits every major movement pattern except a vertical pull.

p.25 · The Fasting-Mimicking Diet — Does It Work?
The article reviews the ProLon protocol and a DIY alternative, comparing cost, adherence and biomarker outcomes. The takeaway: five days per quarter may improve IGF-1, but the effect disappears if you eat ad libitum on non-fast days.

p.27 · Doom Food: The Trend Nobody Asked For
A cultural piece examining why oatmeal, sparkling water and sad desk salads became a personality trait. Light but sharp — six paragraphs that will make you rethink your grocery cart.

▸ Life / Mind / Regulars

p.30 · Weights & Plates: David Nayfeld's Miso Honey Chicken
The fit chef's post-training meal costs $7.20 per serving and takes 22 minutes. Protein per plate: 48g.

p.32 · 14 Awesome New Sneakers
Asa German and Derek Luh model this season's drops. The editors pick the $130 New Balance 1080v14 as the best do-everything trainer.

p.44 · Brain-Boosting Supplements: Which Are Actually Worth Taking?
A neuroscientist reviews lion's mane, magnesium-L-threonate and phosphatidylserine. Only one has consistent human RCT data.

p.88 · Six Pack: Chef Robert Irvine
The restaurateur and TV host lists six items he travels with, including a Victorinox chef's knife and a specific brand of electrolyte tablets.

Editor's Take

September/October 2025 is a heavy-hitter: Butler delivers a genuinely vulnerable cover interview, the heart guide is the kind of health journalism that justifies the subscription price alone, and the MAHAconomy investigation is sharp, timely and fair. The stickball feature is wonderful storytelling even if its training transfer is limited. The group fitness awards are overdue — MH USA has never properly benchmarked the class economy. Weakest section is Life, where the "doom food" trend piece feels like filler. The ad density is noticeable in the centre spread but the edit quality holds up. Best for the reader who wants culture and cardio in equal measure.

Strengths
• Butler interview is unusually raw for a celebrity cover
• Brand New Beat is age-graded and practical
• MAHAconomy report is timely and data-driven

Weaknesses
• "Doom food" piece adds length but not value
• Life section thinner than Body and Mind

Verdict: Essential — One of the strongest issues of 2025; the heart guide and Butler profile alone are worth the buy.